Those afflicted with this disease lead a purposeless
life, through having too much time or money on their hands and lacking a true
aim or understanding of life. They are whim-led, doing anything that comes
into their heads, filling life with cheap novels, exciting movies, or other
unproductive pastimes. They do not realize their malady until some terrible
shock or nervous breakdown overtakes them. You don't know when you are going
to catch it, and suffer from its outbursts of despondency, intolerance and
impatience.
Chronic Worrier
This disease consists in harboring constant chronic
worldly worries which are usually neglected and passively yielded to, instead
of being fought and routed.
It causes its victims to be one-sided in the pursuit of
happiness. They begin to think that money is happiness, or fame is happiness,
or health, or power. They sacrifice everything else, youth, reputation, peace
of mind, etc., on the altar of their all-consuming ambition and learn too
late that the balanced life alone —observing all the laws of nature
and of God and combining activity with calmness— can bring happiness and fulfill
man's natural destiny. The sufferers of Psychological Insanity become "money-mad"
or obsessed with some one ambition ...until their perspective on life is warped
and distorted. One man, for instance, was very successful in his business
and amassed a million dollars, but before he could use it, he died of a complete
nervous breakdown and excessive worry. Others, to gain fame, sacrifice their
self-respect and sincerity. Sufferers from this disease of one-sidedness—
miss their true goal and can never derive real satisfaction from the possession
of their longed-for object, since man's nature is many-sided and demands all-round
development.
This Ism-fanaticism among so-called spiritual people
results from the clinging to some untested dogma or opinion of man without
putting it to the test of experience, and causes paroxysms of anger and hatred
against the laws of tested Truth and liberal rational thought. This religious
madness leads to disobedience of God's simple laws of mental efficiency, material
prosperity and physical health.
Physical diseases, being tangible, painful and repugnant,
arouse our active resistance, and we seek to remedy them by exercise, diet,
medicine or some definite method of cure. But psychological diseases, though
the root cause of all human woes, are not prevented or attended to promptly
and are allowed to devastate and wreck the life.
Educators, physical culturists, preachers,
reformers, doctors and law-makers will hasten the progress of true civilization
only when they themselves first learn and then teach others—how
to harmoniously develop all the factors of life and of man's nature. This
is the true education and all-round human culture that all the world is seeking.
Educational authorities deem it impossible to teach spiritual
principles in public schools because they confuse them with the variety of
conflicting forms of religious faiths. But if they concentrate on the universal
principles of peace, love, service, tolerance and faith— that govern
the spiritual life, and devise methods of practically growing such seeds in
the fertile soil of the child's mind, then the imaginary difficulty is dissolved.
It is the greatest mistake to ignore this problem just because it is seemingly
difficult.
Many college graduates after leaving their universities
are often found with a top-heavy, book-inflated head ...and are unable to
walk straight in the path of life due to their legs of Will and Self-control
being almost paralyzed through disuse. They tumble headlong into the pit of
wrong marriage, sex-misuse, inordinate dollar-craving and business failure.
They had not been taught any other use of their college-sharpened mental blades
of smartness except to hurt themselves. Many young men seem to take pleasure
in doing those things which react to their own disadvantage and suffering
in the end. Last year in America young men ranging in years from 15 to 30
stole one billion dollars by the "hold-up" method. Who was responsible? We,
all of us. They also are vicious who do not prevent the spread of vice, and
teach others to be virtuous through their example. Schools, colleges, and
society have not scientifically tried to prevent crime ...by eliminating its
true mental cause.
Why not take the proper educational steps to
avoid this annual theft of one billion dollars, and use some of those millions
for creating "How-To-Live-Schools," where the art of living and a balanced
development of all human faculties would be taught? We hope to have such a
"How-To-Live-School" for all-round development, at our Mount Washington Educational
Center in Los Angeles, as soon as funds are available and proper interest
has been aroused for the work. In the meantime, we plan to work along such
lines as far as possible.
I consider properly organized schools as gardens
where infant souls are grown and nurtured. The gardeners should be well-selected
and co-operated with by parents and the public. The teachers should never
be neglected for they are soul-molders. The care and spiritual nourishment
of the early life of a human plant usually determines its later development.
I sincerely praise the modern school system of America
and its constantly improving methods of intellectual and to a certain extent
physical training. But I cannot fail to point out its main shortcoming. It
lacks spiritual background, and very badly needs to be supplemented by
moral and spiritual training. The boy who belongs intellectually to
Class "A", or is a great baseball or football player, often attracts notice
and is encouraged by the professors and students, but very few observe or
warn him rightly if he is leading a dark Class "D" moral or spiritual life.
But where is such a school which adopts definite measures
for developing the whole nature of man, teaching him the true art of life
and fitting him to go through the various minor and ultimately the final examination
of life? Such schools are urgently needed, to teach the following arts and
sciences of all-round growth.
